NEW BRUNSWICK — Rutgers University last year cut its direct support for the school’s athletics program by nearly $1 million. But that did not greatly reduce the total $28 million subsidy pumped into the money-losing program to cover the costs of campus sports from football to volleyball. Students picked up part of the difference.

Stung by ongoing criticism over the amount of money Rutgers spends each year to subsidize athletics, university officials say the game plan is to gradually decrease the university’s support in the coming years, relying more on ticket sales, donations, licensing and other revenue to sustain the teams.

"I can see us moving to budget neutrality in six years," university president Robert Barchi said last week.

However, an examination of the university’s annual reports to the National Collegiate Athletic Association showed that while direct institutional support was indeed cut to $18.5 million from $19.4 million, a greater percentage of the athletics program was being picked up by mandatory student fees.

The amount of money taken out of the campus fee paid by all students at Rutgers funneled into athletics increased by nearly half a million, to $9.5 million — a 5 percent increase over the previous year, according to the NCAA reports.

The focus on athletics spending comes in the wake of a report today in USA Today which found Rutgers number two in the country in the amount of money spent to subsidize athletics, among all schools playing big time sports. Only the University of Nevada at Las Vegas spent more in subsidies — $32.6 million.

The amount of student fees colleges use to fund their sports programs varies widely from school to school.

Student fees at Rutgers covered nearly 15 percent of the total budget for the athletic department. In fact, since 2003, the amount of student fee money going to the athletic department has increased by nearly 80 percent as the athletic department budget has swelled, the statistics show.

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Exactly how much each student is paying for Rutgers’ sports teams is unclear. All Rutgers students pay numerous mandatory student fees on top of their annual tuition. Money for the athletics department comes from the "campus fee," which is charged to all full-time and part-time students on all three Rutgers campuses. The money is used for health services, student centers, campus events, buses, the sports program and other services, campus officials said.

Though student fees vary based on a student’s campus and school, the average Rutgers undergraduate on the New Brunswick campus pays more than $2,000 a year for the campus fee as part of their total tuition and fee bill of $13,073 a year. Part-time students pay about $415 a year for the campus fee as part of their tuition and fee bill.

Among universities with similar size athletic budgets and deficits to Rutgers, UNLV and the University of New Mexico use student fees to fund about 4 percent of their athletics budgets. Meanwhile, the University of Memphis relies on student fees to cover 18 percent of its sports budget while San Diego State University draws nearly a quarter of its athletic department funding from student fees.

Mark Killingsworth, a Rutgers economics professor who has examined the athletics subsidies, said university officials never talk about student fees as a subsidy.

"All this talk about a self sustaining program is achieved by ignoring roughly $9.5 million in deficit — the student fees," he said.

He predicts even greater athletics spending, and deficit, with Rutgers’ entry into the Big Ten conference next year.

"They are going to have to spend a lot more money. They will be playing Michigan and Ohio State," Killingsworth said.

He noted that the university still has not finalized its five-year plan for the athletic budget because there is so much uncertainty about future revenues and future expenses. Currently, Big Ten member schools get an average of $24 million in conference distributions, Killingsworth said. But, he said, joining the Big Ten also means leaving the Big East Conference and losing its distributions, which came to $9.8 million last year.

"So even if Rutgers could join the Big Ten immediately, avoid additional expenses, and get the full Big Ten payout, it would get a net increase in conference distributions of about $14 million," he said.

While he called that impressive, with a $28 million deficit, "the athletic program would still be a long way from self-sufficiency."

Rutgers officials say they do not have Big Ten projections, but are developing a formal business plan for athletics based on current revenue models of Big Ten members.

Spokesman E.J. Miranda said no materials have been finalized.

Interim athletic director Carl Kirschner declined comment on the department’s spending, pending the hire of a new director to replace Tim Pernetti, who was forced to resign last month in the wake of the basketball scandal involving the physical and verbal abuse of players by former head coach Mike Rice.

Barchi, in a meeting with the Star-Ledger editorial board last week, said he does not expect athletic spending to soar with the Big Ten entry.

"We’re not going to be spending what Ohio State spends. We’re not going to be spending what Michigan spends. But I do believe we can be competitive," he said.